Alexander Nouri is one of a generation of young German managers receiving favourable coverage around the European game, but his tenure at Werder Bremen isn’t going swimmingly.
Werder Bremen ended last season poorly and their start to the current campaign hasn’t been great. Currently 16th out of 18 Bundesliga clubs, there’s pressure building and that includes questions being asked about Nouri.
That was the case during the summer, with the sale of Felix Wiedwald to Leeds United creating a controversy. Wiedwald wasn’t a bad goalkeeper for Werder Bremen last season but Nouri felt there were better, and signed Czech stopper Jiri Pavlenka.
A patchy preseason from Pavlenka helped the question marks grow, and that remains the case, with Nouri’s judgement under doubt. Frankfurter Rundschau point out that unless Pavelnka proves himself to be a lot better than Wiedwald, now settled in at Elland Road, then the whole change was a waste of time and caused a ‘construction site’ in the team where things could have been left stable.
All this has almost certainly helped Thomas Christiansen, with the Leeds United manager benefitting from a hugely motivated Wiedwald.
